Europe

What would you do for an iced coffee?

Would you keep going into cafes for 4.3 weeks asking for said drink just to recieve either strange looks or get nuke warm cups of espresso and a glass of cold water or blended espresso with milk and ice cubes?

or would you goto Starbucks.. The worst coffee company in the world.. just to get one sip of that brewed iced goodness?

..I did..

And it was delicious.

PS I witnessed a conga line at a trendy club in barcelona. I had no idea people under the age of 60 actually did those things.

So I board the train to firenze from rome. Its the speed train but its still an hour and a half.. Theres many beautiful well dressed people in Italy and I figure, well *maybe* this time I will luck out and you know.. sit in a section with a bunch of attractive italian females.. Just saying, for once it could be nice. Instead its this couple who are probably 40 but are dragged down by some sort of substance abuse. 5 minutes after sitting with them I realize the lady next to me kind of smells awful. Like she really needed deoderant or something. Then I start looking at the dirt under the mans fingernails across from me. Then I notice her decaying nailpolish and sinking face. I cringe and lean forward to read my book and kind of brush my arm against my nose.. Its then I realize that some of the bad smell might be me. Im not sure how this is possible since Ive been showering everyday and did my laundry twice. Mind you the last time was in a crappy laundromat in Prague where there were no dryers so I just air-dryed my stuff in my room. For a 20 minutes I repeatedly smelled myself (not obviously to the others) and came to the conclusion that maybe just a little bit was from me but the rest was definitely from the lady. Needless to say, this warranted a lengthy blog post.

Im definitely doing laundry again this weekend.

So I left the land of good old architecture, russian mob owned businesses and cheep beer (thats prague folks) and headed for Naples today. As a pizza fanatic, I figured it would be worth spending the night here before heading to Rome.

Prague airport was surprisingly nice. And the checkin process actually made sense. Each flight had its own counter as opposed to one counter for all flights of a specific airline. I bought a (the worst I've ever had (stick to meat meals in prague)) caesar salad and water for 400 czech crowns at the airport since I figured there would be no food on the airplane.. They actually served 2 types of crackers and a drink on the 2 hour flight. Aside from killing flies on the airplane.. It was a pretty decent change from the trains I've been sitting on. Once I got to the airport I exchanged my remaining 250 czech crowns for approximately 3 euros.

As I reach the 2 1/2 week mark I'm starting to slow down and sleep more. My current running joke is that I'm developing narcolepsy.. I know I know.. Theres nothing funny about it. Having a cold plus the 95 degree weather probably doesn't help but this is the second day where I missed any open attractions.. Instead I climbed a few hundreds steps to walk around the dimonte museum. Which was quite stunning. The walk up was a little intense as the steps definitely had some eery smells and there was no one around in site. On the way back down I noticed the beautiful view and felt the urge to take a bunch of pictures (I am a tourist afterall).. Then some flies started attacking me. So I moved on and noticed a few steps down a man shooting heroin.. Like needle in the arm. I used to live in Philadelphia and never saw that shit. I suppose the needles I had taken pictures of at the top of the steps could have been a warning sign.

Anyway, all complaints aside its nice to be in southern europe. The first half of my trip was plagued with cold weather and rain. The second half will be too much heat and ice cream.. Its a tough life, I know. Naples is an interesting city, kinda dirty and really fast fast paced with scooters and cars constantly buzzing by but everyones pretty and extremely fashionable. Also, I'm getting breakfast served in my room in the morning which is a welcome change. I'm gonna pass on making any judgements of Naples since I'm only here for a night. Hopefully I'll actually see everything in Rome I intend to see. Or atleast eat lots of delicious food and ice cream. Im not even an ice cream person.. Its something about hot weather in europe and no a/c I guess.

Then that doesn't really explain anything. BUT I have to admit that I really liked Berlin. Part of it due to my first hostel experience on this trip. I suppose I missed the immediate social aspect that I hadn't had in previous countries. And to the naysayers who said private rooms are silly.. I slept quite well thank you. Apparently in one room some guy was snoring so loud another guy got up and started hitting him with a pillow until he stopped snoring.. Twice. Another room these french girls started blow drying their hair at 6am. Someone threw a water bottle at them.

One thing I found curious about Berlin is the its undercover police. We were riding on the train when a plain woman comes up to us and shows a badge of some sort saying Ticket! Ticket!.. but spoke no english. When this guy in our group apparently didn't have his stamped, we were ushered off the train. Suddenly it was the woman and 2 more guys who seemed even more ordinary. I figured they were translators but it turned out these were the only 3 germans I came across who dont speak english. Eventually we got our tickets figured out but that was pretty bizarre.

Im in Prague now. The great city that everyone said was so cool. Unfortunately its been averaging around 95 during the day resulting in immediate purchasing of new tshirts as my clothes dont seem to be holding up. Theres also an abundance of flies, especially at night. Aside from that I've also discovered this is the stomping ground of brits who need a cheap getaway to throw stag parties. Fortunately the architecture is amazing and after discovering expats.cz I have quite a few things more I want to do ie; kafka museum, communism museum etc..

OH PS.. I got to write on the berlin wall before I left. What was the first thing that came to mind when signing this deep piece of history that changed lives and an entire nation..?

"Whats love got to do with it?"
..and little hearts encircling it.
You're welcome Germany.

I'm having trouble figuring out where to start with this thing. Aside from my backpack stories in the beginning (I believe i made the right choice afterall, huzzah!) its hard to pick out each interesting story.

My first few hours in london were a blur. I found myself at victoria station in morning rush hour, half awake and lost (a common theme on this trip). I ducked out into a cafe and tried to make sense of my bearings. I'm beginning to enjoy that feeling now. Paris, brussels, antwerp, random train stops.. I get out of these trains stations, walk a few blocks and say where the hell am i? Then I spend a few days figuring it out and move onto the next city.

I thought I liked paris best so far but amsterdam as of today has moved up in ranks. That feeling can be attributed to renting a bike and getting lost for the day. Theres definitely a cool vibe here once you get away from the touristy areas and 21 yr old recent graduate pot heads.

I'd have to say my favorite moment in paris was when I was sitting on a bench a few blocks from the arc de triumph when it suddenly started pouring.. Except I wasn't getting wet because of the tree above me. So I just sat there watching everyone deal with the rain (either running and acting aloof to it).

Berlin should be cool. It'll be good to get away from the frites and waffles. Those things will be the death of me.